Technikon research may still be in its infancy, but it is taking itself seriously and growing fast, says Cheryl Lombard, manager of the Technikon Programme of the National Research Foundation (NRF).
Before Parliament allowed technikons to award degrees in 1993, nobody encouraged or expected them to engage in research. The NRF’s financial support of technikon research gives useful indicators of its development. From the start, the current NRF programme set out to improve staff qualifications and encourage students to follow research-based studies. While still low compared to universities, the figures indicate “a giant leap forward for technikons”, reports Lombard.
The qualification profile of NRF-supported technikon staff and students at technikons has risen at a rapidly increasing pace, March 2001 figures reveal. In science, engineering and technology (SET), 28 staff members obtained doctorates between 1996 and March 2001, and more than twice as many (that is, a further 34) are scheduled to follow suit by the end of 2001. At master’s level, 85 obtained degrees between 1996 and March 2001, and a further 56 expect to do so during 2001. In the social sciences and humanities it is estimated that, between 1996 and 2000, 18 NRF-supported staff members obtained doctorates and 50 obtained master’s degrees.
The student figures have also grown impressively. In 1996 the NRF supported four SET doctoral students at technikons; in 2001 the figure had trebled to 13 (including four black men). In 1996, 38 master’s students had NRF funding; in 2001 the figure had almost quadrupled to 148 (of whom 30 were black women and 61 black men).
To qualify for NRF funding, SET researchers at universities or at technikons need a valid NRF rating. In 1993 the first technikon researcher obtained such a rating. By 2000 the figure had grown to 20. This year so far a further 10 have been successful.
Until now, the Department of Education gave universities, but not technikons, a 15% “blind” subsidy for research infrastructure. The research subsidy total allocated to the universities by the department in 1999/2000 was R549-million, for example, in contrast with a technikon total of R49-million for the same period.
February’s National Plan for Higher Education removes the old provision for a “blind” research element for universities only, and will in future replace it at both universities and technikons with subsidies based primarily on research outputs.